Have you ever had pure maple syrup? Once you have, the other never quite works for you again. Pure maple syrup is deep in color, rich in taste, goes down slowwwww-ly, and lingers wherever it lands. It is sweet without containing the kinds of processed sugars we’re told to avoid, which makes it a super treat.

I’m a native New Englander. My first childhood memories of pure maple anything were of the little maple sugar candies that my parents brought back from vacations up north. These came in a box of four or six and were shaped like pine cones, maple leaves, or trees. Put one in your mouth, and it melts, just like that. I have newer memories of maple products, but more on that in a sec.

We were at the lake last weekend, looking out our windows at the winterness of it all. Winterness? Try bleakness. There isn’t much snow this year, and the lake hasn’t frozen thickly. Local officials actually had to modify the rules for the annual ice fishing derby weekend, because the ice wasn’t thick enough to support the stores and restaurants, trucks and buses that occupy the frozen bay during this event. Typically, the ice is 18” thick by now.

We were at the lake this weekend, and it was amazing. The foliage is past peak, but there were still a few brilliant shots. The lake water is colder now, so you don’t get the mist rising as it did in September when the water was warmer than the air. And the water is very still — I mean, it doesn’t move. I’m always struck by that in fall.